Water lilies in the pools outside at the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory at the New York Botanical Garden, in the Bronx on a bright June Sunday. The first thing that caught my eye was the flat, green edge of the pads, and then the water surface. The horizontal is rhyzomatous. “The family is further characterized by scattered vascular bundles in the stems, and frequent presence of latex, usually with distinct, stellate-branched sclereids projecting into the air canals. Hairs are simple, usually producingmucilage (slime).” The flowers are bisexual (Wikipedia).